The "Improving" Obama Economy. Having a job vs being "employed"

Professor Obama says, "you're doing great America!"

What does an article about the factual state of the economy have to do with a webpage devoted to the proliferation of a well-armed, and trained, American citizenry and the end of gun free zones? Obviously economic instability, social volatility and the issues that face armed citizens with the expansion of both.

Whether prepping for a global financial meltdown or simply concerned about their jobs, many Americans believe our economy is in serious trouble and the economic data we receive to the contrary is somehow flawed or outright dishonest. 

Last Friday, for example, the media cheer led the Obama administration over the October 2015 Non-Farm Employment number; 271K jobs "added" vs 181K jobs forecast. Ignored was the Non-Farm Employment number, released the first Friday of each month, measures the number of Americans who "lost" their unemployment insurance, not those who transitioned from unemployed to employed. 

So if you lost your job and are collecting unemployment insurance the government will consider you reemployed once your unemployment insurance has expired whether you have an actual job or not. Welcome to the madhouse of selectively manipulated Keynesian economic data.

The press also celebrated Obama's "burgeoning" economy by noting a 0.1% drop in the October unemployment rate, from 5.1% to and even 5%. What these economic media experts failed to mention is that the monthly unemployment rate is, by definition, the "percentage of the total work force that is unemployed and actively seeking employment during the previous month."

So, just to place this highly-touted but completely idiotic economic metric in perspective, massive segments of the American public can be unemployed,  yet still contribute to a lower national unemployment rate. Those of us who follow the Austrian School of Economics have a highly technical term for such statistical manipulation; "bullshit."

With so much intentionally false information masquerading as legitimate economic data, to what, besides asking our neighbors about their job security (or lack of), can we look for a clearer picture of American employment health?

ADP Non-Farm Employment Number 

Prior to release of the misleading Non-Farm Employment number, the ADP Non-Farm Employment number is released the first Wednesday of each month and provides a more accurate picture of the real American Economy. This number is also good for sending Keynesian economists into profanity-laced tirades because it actually measures something to do with economic growth or contraction; the number of people receiving, or no longer receiving, pay checks.

ADP provides payroll services (cuts pay checks) to US corporations. Their data from around 400,000 companies is analyzed to derive employment growth estimates. So, basically, the "ADP number" is the difference between the increase or decrease in payroll checks printed, cut, and sent out to employers month to month.

And what would you guess was October's ADP number prior to release of Friday's gushingly good Non-Farm Employment number? Yup, a loss in jobs. 182K actual jobs added vs the 183K jobs expected by surveying economist. This, of course, is only a 1000 point deviation, but overall ADP numbers demonstrate seven of the past ten months, of 2015, have been negatives for employment in the United States. I bet this is no surprise and directly correlates to what your "gut" has been telling you about the economy all along. 

In reality four of the past seven years of Obama's "growing" socialist economy have seen monthly job losses with one year, 2013, a break even for jobs, and only two, pre-Obamacare 2011 and 2012, showing job gains over job losses. Don't want to believe the Obama economy, for which the only economic policy initiative has been the destruction of affordable health insurance, is shedding jobs? See for yourself.

Are we being lied to about the real economy? Is promoting a narrative contrary to the facts "lying"?

Wrong, Ben, Wrong!

 

2016 Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson recently soiled his shoes by stepping in a pile of his own making when suggesting terrified victims of the Umpqua Community College shooter, after seeing their professor head shot point blank, 'should have rushed the shooter instead of doing nothing and being shot.'

why do so called conservatives not have the courage to address gun free zones as the real cause of mass shootings in America? Why are none of our presumed pro-gun politicians calling for an end to gun free zones and demanding American citizens be armed and allowed our human and constitutional civil right to self-defense from criminal deadly force?

  We certainty don't see animal rights activists demanding the prey of predatory species have their claws, teeth, and horns removed to prevent being attacked and eaten by carnivorous attackers. Yet the mantra of "remove guns from potential victims to make public places safe" is always the first go-to for political opponents and too many self-espoused advocates of the Second Amendment.

A recent study by Purdue University Professor Eric Dietz, handily ignored by media outlets, demonstrates that all mass shooting since the 1950s, for the exception of two, have been in gun free zones. Dietz also constructed a statistical model showing how 10 percent of teachers carrying concealed firearms, in addition to the presence of an armed resource officer, reduces school active shooting casualties by 70.2 percent.

Contact your Washington representatives. Inform them that to be serious about stopping active shootings they must first irradiate federally-mandated gun free zones; the preferred hunting grounds for deranged savages known as "active shooters". And please, if you are voting Republican in 2016 vote for a candidate who understands guns and the purpose of guns in American history and culture.

Armed Americans are at a Legal and Temporal Disadvantage: Timing - Mindset - Training.

Davis Tutt helping himself to Bill Hickok's favorite watch, over which Hickok would kill Tutt and be arrested for murder.*

Wild Bill Hickok was rumored to have killed hundreds of men in gunfights throughout the West. In reality it was closer to ten. Still a substantial number for any one man. After becoming friends, Buffalo Bill Cody hired Hickok to star in his traveling Wild West show. Upon seeing Wild Bill's shooting skills Cody derived Hickok's successes in gun fighting came from his decisiveness.

"In addition to conjuring calm in the heat of the moment," said Cody. "Bill beat them to it. He made up his mind to kill the other man before the other man had finished thinking, and so Bill would just quietly pull his gun and give it to him."

Unlike Bill Hickok, however, armed citizens in 21st century America do not have the legal latitude to assume an adversary is going to use deadly force. We cannot "go to gun" because of how someone postures or verbally threatens us. A threat must constitute grave bodily harm or death before armed citizens and members of law enforcement can respond with deadly force. We must confirm that we are faced with criminal deadly force before we respond with legal deadly force, which places us at a significant disadvantage in relation to timing.

But just because action is faster than reaction does not mean the first to act, as in Hickok's case, is always the first to win. The first to throw a punch is not always the victor, nor the first to shoot the survivor. Force multiplication is the determining factor in who wins a violent confrontation, not simply who acted and who reacted. And in the context of dangerous and deadly confrontations the key force multipliers are mindset and training. 

What, as an armed American or LEO, is your mindset and training? Do you have enough of both to survive a deadly force encounter without being the one who instigated the conflict? Having only one, or neither, means you are more of a liability than an asset to those around you.

In our increasingly dangerous and litigious society armed Americans need Wild Bill Hickok's timing and accuracy without his "decisiveness." Make sense? As armed citizens we never want to see the inside of a criminal or civil courtroom for actions we believed legal, righteous, and necessary.

Mindset and Training for armed civilians, LEOs, and Military: 
http://www.elitetwo.com/  
http://www.elitetwo.com/sheepdogs.html 

*Two days after shooting Davis Tutt through the heart at 75 yards Bill Hickok was arrested for murder. Charges were later dropped to manslaughter. In August of 1865 a jury trial acquitted Hickok, deciding he had acted in self-defense. 

Can Your Child's School Stop an Active Shooter?

Summer break is over and thousands of federally-mandated gun free zones are filling hallways and classrooms with children for the 2015/2016 school year. Talk to your school system superintendent. Demand to know how he or she is protecting your children from deranged active shooters and opportunistic jihadists. If their plan does not involve firearms, via police or armed security, it is painfully inadequate.

Demand a plan that mandates an armed response to shooting attacks. Choreographed retreats and rehearsed protocols will not stop an active shooting attack. Return fire will. Ensure your school system takes action now. The risks to our schools have never been greater.

What does "remain vigilant" mean?

For days members of the media, FBI, and DHS have been warning American citizens about possible ISIS or ISIS-inspired terror attacks in the US during the coming Fourth of July holiday. With each warning the phrase "remain vigilant' is mindlessly shot out like excreta from the rear of a large farm animal. 

"DHS warns Americans to remain vigilant this Fourth of July weekend."

"The FBI is setting up command posts throughout the US and warns Americans celebrating Independence Day to remain vigilant." 

Seriously? What exactly does that mean, and how does "remaining vigilant" protect us from  jihadists with rifles in gun free zones? Let's look at a few terror scenarios and determine how remaining vigilant works to combat global jihad. 

Scenario one: You and your family are enjoying a local Fourth of July parade when a man wearing a headscarf with Arabic writing jumps from the crowd of onlookers, produces a rifle and starts shooting members of the procession. Remain Vigilant! 

Scenario two: You are at the mall to see a movie this Fourth of July weekend. Three 'ISIS-inspired gunmen' come from a department store spraying rifle fire into crowds lined up to buy movie tickets. Remain Vigilant! 

Scenario three: You and a friend from weapons class meet to watch a ball game the night of the Fourth when shots ring out followed by screams and crowds of terrified spectators running for their lives. Don't touch your guns or employ any training. Remain vigilant! Sure, innocent people will die, thanks to your inactivity, but the important thing is you did exactly what the government and press corps expected. Nothing! 

You get my contrived point. I, perhaps like you, am tired of DC security bureaucrats telling our well-armed society to essentially do nothing when jihadis attack our communities. 

Obviously we should coordinate with local and federal law enforcement to report crime and potential acts of terror. I am simply promoting a change in thinking from our government by, instead of telling us to cower in hopeless fear if attacked, encouraging us to turn attacks on our attackers.

Stop telling us to "remain vigilant." We know to inform law enforcement of suspicious behavior, but attacks on innocents have to be immediately mitigated when law enforcement is unavailable.

WWIII has started, and it could be the longest violent conflict in human history; lasting until the irradiation of all Islamic jihadists or the moderation of Islam. Like it or not we are all participants and potential targets. 

Report suspicious activity but know when to be a combatant in protecting innocent life. Don't just "remain vigilant". Be prepared to act.

"The Nightmare is over." Nightmare? Really???

 

Shot and caught two miles from the Canadian border, escape murderer David Sweat discovered the limits of his survival skills when NY Trooper Jay Cook incapacitated the prisoner with two shots from his service pistol, ending a 23-day hunt for the last of two Clinton Correctional Facility escapees.  But was the drama surrounding the Matt and Sweat escape really, as the media desperately tried to convince us, a "nightmare" for communities of northern NY?

As a well-armed American, living in the gun-friendly Midwest, I was completely unimpressed by the "danger" Matt and Sweat presented to the communities in which they hid. Yes, two violent felons evading police capture in your neighborhood is a disquieting thought, but there are dangerous paroled, previously released, and yet to be arrested violent criminals roaming the streets of our communities every second of every day. Regarding the Matt and Sweat escape all I can say is, "so what?" In a free society we are responsible for our own protection.

No armed American should ever fear murderers, rapists, or violent sociopaths. Leave that to the anti-gun left and the laws they create to obviate their own freedoms and personal discretion.

Threat Level "Charlie" this Fourth of July Weekend

 

Americans have been warned. Both DHS and the FBI have advised ISIS-inspired attacks on American soil are likely this Fourth of July weekend. The question is, who is best equipped to mitigate the violence? Armed and trained Americans, or unarmed citizens and anti-gun liberals? You decide. My rifle and rig are at the ready to rain on any jihadi stooge violently overstepping his freedom of expression during my patriotic, Merica! Fourth of July cookout. 

Sorry Barry. We know it is a hindrance for your plans to completely destroy our Republic, but many of us are capable of our own protection. 

Church: The last place you do not want to carry, police security or not.

Whether deranged active shooters or Islamic terror attacks, Christian churches are watering holes for violent predators.

In the house of the Lord there is only one thing that will save you from an active shooter or terrorist intent on killing you, your family, and members of your congregation. I am sorry to inform you that it is not the All Mighty. 

God is in the business of souls, not living beings. You are responsible for your own protection, that of your family, and those incapable of defending themselves from criminal deadly force. Doubts to the contrary can reference any number of mass shootings in places of worship, including the most recent at the Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina.

Although I am not a regular church goer I do attend with family on occasions throughout the year, and I never enter church unarmed. Many pro-gun Americans have a strange notion, when is comes to carrying on Sunday, that they are "safe" at church or should not enter the house of God with a gun. 

To those with this belief, the anti-gun establishment thanks you. Look how well your "no guns in church" notion is aiding progressives in promoting gun control after the murder of nine innocent worshipers in SC last Wednesday.

"My church has armed police security so I don't need to carry a gun."

For many, notably those with little or no training, this is exactly the case. Sadly most Americans obtaining licenses to carry handguns in public do not seek professional training to use their firearms in a public or during an active shooting event. I see this weekly at the facility where I train. Groups of people spend eight hours in a licensed carry class, dump a mag to show "ability" in operating their carry gun (many with an informal knowledge of their own platforms), and followup with a few shots on a static range whenever they feel the need.(1)

Those with experience and training in protecting innocent life with guns, however, have an obligation to carry, particularly at church. The church I attend has at least one local LEO stationed at its main entry/exit. I do not personally know the officer, who is a different person each Sunday, but as a legally armed American trained in active shooter mitigation I approach the officer, look him or her in the eye, offer a friendly greeting, and thank that person for being there. The officer says "thank you" in return then looks me up and down, possibly noticing the guns and extra magazines bulging from my suit jacket.(2) 

Note I do not engage the officer in conversation or rattle off my resume as an armed citizen. That LEO has a job to do, protecting people at church, not suffocating on hot air emanating from my mouth hole. 

I make brief visual and verbal contact with the officer to let them know, "Hey, if all hell breaks lose and you see me shooting violent criminals or terrorists, think FRIENDLY!"

The Emanuel AME Church shooting will, without question, bring more police off the streets and into churches for the purpose of armed security. This does not, however, excuse trained, armed Americans to delegate our responsibility to carry at church and other public places in Obama's America where racial hostility, active shootings, and Islamic terror have become the norm.

(1) I am one hundred percent in favor of arming every decent American citizen, but current threats to our communities, from deranged active shooters to Islamic terrorists, mean more training is needed for growing multitudes of Americans armed in public places.

(2)  I do not shake hands with the officer or make any physical contact what so ever. Touching an on-duty, uniformed police officer is a bad idea even in a church atrium on Sunday morning, notably if you happen to be carrying. Know your boundaries, especially when armed.

Three quotes and takeaways from Emanuel Church mass killing

"I do believe this was a hate crime." Irrelevant. Labeling the crime does not bring back the nine murdered.

"The shooting was the most unbelievable act possible." Hardly, but this idiotic statement is  regurgitated after every active shooting attack.

"A man in his 20s was seen in a security camera image." Security cameras do not prevent you from being killed. Guns prevent you from being killed.

One of the most odious curses of progressive liberalism has been to dissuade black Americans from owning and possessing defensive firearms. In fact black communities throughout the nation, many riddled with crime and violence, have been localities of "success" for the gun control movement; law abiding citizens politically pressured or legally prohibited from owning firearms while illegally armed criminals run amok in their neighborhoods.

In addition to recognizing that liberalism has ruined far more black lives that it has ever helped, black Americans need, instead of bowing to the wishes of the liberal anti-gun agenda, a Second Amendment renaissance among their race.

Would Obama's State Dept train Americans to kill ISIS as it has trained ISIS to kill Americans?

Vegan killer: Khalimov takes aim. A tomato dies.

Shooting a tomato at 25 yards with a Drugunov is hardly an impressive skill for a sniper, but that was the demonstration Tajikistan native Gulmurod Khalimov, trained by US State and now fighting for ISIS, offered of his ability and determination to kill enemies of Islam and hopefully, as he put it, Americans in US cities and towns.

Before loaning his skills to ISIS Khalimov, a Russian-speaking former police commander, trained in five counter terror courses in Tajikistan and the US, courtesy of the State Department's Diplomatic Security and Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program. 

Instead of training, throughout the world and America, terrorists to kill us, why is the Department of State, whose clandestine activities long ago abandoned its mandate of diplomacy, not teaching armed Americans to kill terrorists? Is it not, after all, American cities, towns, homes and families savages like Khalimov want to destroy and murder? 

News flash US government. It is not well-armed, fortified US installations ISIS will attack but American citizens they consider most vulnerable. We are the targets to "harden".

On our own.

With federal agencies like the State Department falling under Obama's "leadership" it is little wonder our enemies are being trained, both here and abroad, to destroy western civilization and the American Republic. Obama's foreign policy strategy is the same as his domestic: cause as much damage to the US as possible before January 20, 2017.

In addition to being led by a tyrannical Marxist in the White House, many in our federal agencies see us, notably armed Americans, as stupid, problematic or outright dangerous to the "guberment" notwithstanding our patriotism and loyalty to the Constitution and libertarian ideas of our nation's founding; concepts equally hated by ISIS, statist neo-cons and progressive liberals.(1)

As armed citizens any CT weapons training we receive, despite ISIS organizing attacks on US communities, will be of our own doing though local gun fighting schools and not from any US government agency, unless, apparently, you currently are, or are planning to become, a member of ISIS. 

 (1) There are thousands of patriotic, constitutional, freedom-loving Americans working in the State Department and other US government agencies, regardless of the incumbent at 1600 Penn. The article is directed at Obama's agency installments, his Marxist destruction of our American Republic and his administration's creation and passive support of ISIS in Libya, Syria and Iraq.